Thursday, June 3- Jim’s calling an audible! This week the guys catch up in our first ever ‘Freestyle’ episode. Covering a recent surge of hiring, how blessed they are to be busy, the addition of Brian Dresel to the Energy Worldnet family, and a handful of other topics. Tune in. This is one of the best shows of the week (that is what Jim said)!
Quick Links:
Jim Schauer on Linkedin
James Cross on Linkedin
Episode Transcript
Jim Schauer: [0:24] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of “Coffee with Jim & James.” I will not even explain what was going on in the pre‑show, but it was epic. And when James and I get together, it is magic.
[0:35] But James, hold on a second. I’m going to call an audible the day, okay?
James Cross: [0:41] Do it.
Jim: [0:43] Because, let me tell you, I almost had a “Back to the Future” type of moment.
[0:48] I was in, 2022, I was in Vanc‑, I’m in Vancouver. I’m at a WEI event. And it’s hustle and bustle, Kevin Sullivan, Eric’s there, we’re talking to everybody. And we have some great information.
[1:03] All of a sudden, we pull out the camera. We go live from there and start telling people about some really cool industry event. And so you know what? It just made me think that, you know, let’s go back to the future and go to today.
[1:17] There’s so much going on. I know we had some topic we were going to talk about today, but I think we should go off script a little bit, follow our buddies at UPSCO, where they kind of freestyle it for a little bit, and just have a discussion with the audience about some of the things we’re seeing in the world.
[1:33] Are you OK with that?
James: [1:34] Yeah. That was really what happened in the pre‑show was we decided to throw the script out and freestyle, if you will.
Jim: [1:41] Yep.
James: [1:42] Jim will be boxed, and I will freestyle. Look at that throwback. I know, I went throwback today, too. Look at that. More, more about that later in this freestyle episode.
[1:56] In full disclosure, what we did, we just got together pre‑show, put a bunch of points we wanted to cover really to catch people up and debrief people of things going on in the industry, things going on with, with our company, our roles, personal, whatever it may be.
[2:13] And kind of, there’s not really a cadence to these. We’re not going to say we’re gonna do these once a month or what. Because really, the, what you mentioned, when we get back out there, that future that you, you know, prognosticated was really, is going to be our reality in about six months, you know?
[2:34] And in three months, four months, what are we talking about? I’m sure everybody’s looking at Q3 and 4 and shaking like the rest of us at how many events are in there, right? How’s this going to look?
[2:45] And so what we want to do is be your boots on the ground, be out there, bringing information back. I used to tell Jimmy to do this internally. You know, you go to so many shows…
Jim: [2:57] Yeah.
James: [2:57] [inaudible] the high points of the sessions you were in. Give us a debrief when you get back. And so Jimmy gets to be your, you know, feet on the ground out there sometimes to those event maybe you didn’t even know about, and myself included.
[3:12] So we’ll be able to do that. Plus, man, we’re busy, just in general. We are blessed to be busy. And we want to share some of that with the, with the world. And yeah, man, we’re totally stealing from UPSCO.
Jim: [3:26] All right.
James: [3:26] But we told them we were going to do it.
Jim: [3:28] Yeah, and they loved it, you know? They loved it.
James: [3:31] But, but we’re going to turn it into the whole show is nothing, that no gas no planned guest, anyway. I mean, if somebody shows up, we get Zoom‑bombed, that’s, that’s life, right?
Jim: [3:42] You know, like…
James: [3:45] Let’s just jump into it. I mean, we don’t really know what we’re doing, but that’s the idea behind it. Jimmy, I want to start with you.
Jim: [3:51] Yes, sir.
James: [3:52] You’re a busy, man. Busy, busy, busy right now. And I know there’s episodes to come that, where we’ll talk in detail about some of those things that you’re working on.
[4:03] But there’s an exciting thing that I know that you’ve been passionate about. Really, you’ve been talking about this since you came on board with Energy Worldnet.
Jim: [4:11] Yep.
James: [4:11] And we have been, you know, blessed to be able to roll some of that out. And again, kind of bating, if you will, testing it with some folks.
[4:21] And, and so, Jimmy, tell, tell the world about this project that you’ve been very close to in working on, try to bring it and kind of where we sit. And I know it’s kind of a teaser. It’s not 100 percent out there, but, you know, get, share with the world a little bit on what, what you’ve been cooking over there.
Jim: [4:38] Well over the, over the years, I’ve realized that the manufacturers in our industry hold a lot of credibility, hold a lot of, I don’t wanna say power, but people go to them. Operators go to manufacturers for advice. Contractors go to manufacturers for advice.
[4:57] They’re actually a very important hub into everything that’s being done out there. And they’re looked at as subject matter experts in what they do. And people, you know, really rely on them and their information.
[5:09] So, I’ve been a long proponent of tapping into the manufacturers and giving a little bit of a, you want to say, a formal type of platform around them. And so that’s kind of, I think that’s a pretty good [inaudible] for some really exciting things.
[5:29] But if you’re a manufacturer and, you know, [inaudible] into contractors into distributors, into operators, and people are constantly asking you for your advice for, you know, in your world, we should talk. Because it’s very exciting.
[5:48] I think that’s enough teaser for now, James.
James: [5:50] No doubt, no doubt. Reach out to us. And then we’ll definitely start that conversation. A lot, lots of exciting things over there. And a lot of workers went into that from a bunch of different parts of our company.
Jim: [6:03] Oh yeah.
James: [6:04] And our partners. The partnerships are really the exciting part of it, you know.
Jim: [6:09] Yeah.
James: [6:09] That’s, Jimmy, that, that’s what you and I are out there doing, you know, all the time. And we’ve spent, you know, really the last year really hyper‑focused on has been really, you know, fostering relationships and finding those strategic partnerships out there.
Jim: [6:25] Yep.
James: [6:26] And this is the fruits of that labor, so excited to see it coming down also.
Jim: [6:30] Absolutely. And a shout‑out to our friends at ClockSpring NRI, who have been proponents and talking to everybody in their part of the industry, including regulators who have been giving applause to this whole effort.
[6:44] So some really exciting stuff going on, folks. But let me turn the table, James.
James: [6:48] Yep.
Jim: [6:49] Enough about me and my world. You, my friend, you have been busy. You have been doing a lot. Not only do you head up all of our brand initiatives at Energy Worldnet, but, I don’t know how this ever could’ve happen, but they named you also in charge of Human Resources. So…
James: [7:07] It was a proud moment when I called my mom that day, though, you know.
Jim: [7:11] Did she say…
James: [7:12] Well, I’ve been on the other side of the law so many other times, you know…
Jim: [7:15] [laughs]
James: [7:15] with HR.
Jim: [7:16] Yeah.
James: [7:17] No way. Yeah, you’re right. And it is a busy time. And, you know, HR’s one of those funny things, that if it’s done, right, you almost don’t even know that they’re there, right?
Jim: [7:31] Right.
James: [7:31] And so it’s sometimes a forgotten corporate service or department. And it’s been very eye‑opening for me to be in there and see it firsthand and learn. Man, I’m learning every day. I’ve, I’m such a liability, you know. I tell them all the time, and they keep me.
[7:48] [laughs] You know, I, I saw a video the other day where this lady had a hula‑hoop around her. It was six foot, you know, so she could keep everyone away…
Jim: [7:56] Yeah, yeah.
James: [7:58] [laughs] …per the guidelines, right? And it was really funny, and, but I visualized the same thing when I walked into HR. They’d put a 10‑foot‑long pole around, you know…
Jim: [8:09] Yeah.
James: [8:10] so I couldn’t touch anything. Or they would, you know, they’d put a bell around, a bell on my collar so they’d know where I was. [laughs] But yeah, man, we’re busy, busy. And again, fruits of being so blessed and so busy as we are, we are hiring like mad right now. We did last year as well. Our growth is exponential.
Jim: [8:33] Yep.
James: [8:34] Like I said, we are blessed in that world. We’re expanding in the new, a whole new world, right? So we’re building the teams for that.
[8:43] So we just had a press conference, I guess, I wanna say was last week.
Jim: [8:48] Yep.
James: [8:48] For me, it was yesterday.
Jim: [8:49] Yep.
James: [8:49] [laughs] A very, very cool thing we did here at, locally, in Downtown Decatur, Texas here. And announced that we were bringing 40 jobs, you know, potentially, to the, to the area. I mean…
Jim: [9:06] Yep.
James: [9:07] for sure to the area. But hopefully, you know, some of them obviously will be, some will be remote. But that’s a big impact, you know?
Jim: [9:15] Absolutely.
James: [9:15] It’s millions of dollars, couple million dollars worth of salary. And so we announced that, and we had two mayor there and Economic Development Corporation.
[9:24] And so it was an exciting event to be able to, you know, really get, help people understand who we are locally. We haven’t always been involved, just we didn’t know. You know, you just don’t know when you kind of growing a thing.
[9:37] So we announced that. That was exciting. And then we announced a job fair coming up next week, which probably when this airs, it probably is today. So pray for me, Jimmy.
[9:48] No, we’re at a job fair, we’re hosting a job fair. It was a really cool space here in Downtown Decatur. I know, Jimmy, you’ve been there. We have the Trinity Street Coffee shop, Coffee Bar.
Jim: [9:58] Wonderful.
James: [9:59] Really cool place. We call it our second office.
Jim: [10:01] Yeah.
James: [10:02] We actually partnered with the roasting side of the company as well, Voltage. And we’re, hopefully, we’ll be shipping out coffee, you know, with our swag boxes to people here real soon.
[10:17] So we’re going to be hosting at their, at their new space. They have a, a restaurant they opened. They call it the Roastaurant, right next door. And so we’re gonna be hosting a job fair there. When is it? June 3rd, 8:30 to 10:30, actually, live there.
[10:32] We’ll be hiring a bunch of people. I won’t say on the spot, because we won’t. But, but we’ll be taking a lot of information…
[10:39] [crosstalk]
Jim: [10:40] right? Make relationships, making…
James: [10:41] No doubt. No doubt. We’ll be putting a lot of people on our virtual bench as well. Because I’m telling you, we’re growing. I don’t see it stopping, we’re really excited about.
[10:52] But, Jimmy, there was one hire in particular.
Jim: [10:54] Yep, yep.
James: [10:55] Yeah, that, that maybe flew across a couple of people’s radars this week, this past couple of weeks. And that was the addition of Mr. Brian Dresel…
Jim: [11:04] Yes.
James: [11:05] who a lot of us know from his days at PHMSA…
Jim: [11:09] Yep.
James: [11:09] his, you know, being active, in the industry as a whole. Man, what are the odds? He’s been a guest on our show…
Jim: [11:17] Yep, when he was at Black Hills Energy.
James: [11:19] Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jim: [11:22] Yep.
James: [11:22] And we actually have teamed up with him at, multiple times. We’ve, man, we’ve had a great relationship with Brian for a long time.
Jim: [11:32] Yeah.
James: [11:32] We’ve wanted him to be a part of our team, but the, the stars needed aligning. So here we are. So that was an exciting thing to get to put out there into the world this past couple of weeks, so we’re excited.
Jim: [11:46] Yeah.
James: [11:46] Ron’s on board.
Jim: [11:48] Yeah.
James: [11:48] He is, man…
Jim: [11:51] You know Brian’s claim to fame…
James: [11:53] He’s something special.
[11:53] [crosstalk]
Jim: [11:53] Coffee with Jimmy & James? You know what his claim to fame was?
James: [11:56] What that?
Jim: [11:56] The shortest answer for the question we always ask, do you love what you do? It was a positive one.
James: [12:03] Yeah, absolutely.
Jim: [12:04] [laughs] That’s was it. That’s how he answered, next. [laughs] You know Brian. He’s like, let’s get, let’s get going.
James: [12:14] But yeah, man, like I said, blessed to be busy.
Jim: [12:19] Yes.
James: [12:20] We’re definitely busy.
[12:21] So we’re hoping to bring a lot of new people. I think we’ve hired, I don’t know, by the time this airs, we have a new crew coming in, too. I mean, we may into 15, 20 people already in 2021. So we’re well on our way. It’s exciting.
Jim: [12:38] And let me just hit on one thing, because we kind of glossed over it. But you in charge of brand and you in charge over Human Resources, people are saying brand, marketing, da‑da‑da, Human Resources, rules.
James: [12:49] Sure.
Jim: [12:50] But when you think about a company, what’s the core of a company is its culture, right?
James: [12:55] Yeah.
Jim: [12:55] Everything…
James: [12:56] And really the argument that I always put up, and not that it was an argument, but was that if I’m going to be charged to curate the brand and make sure the culture is where it should be, then I need to understand how people are coming into our company and how they’re leaving.
Jim: [13:15] Yep.
James: [13:15] And those two things can answer a lot for us. We ask a lot of questions when people walk out the door, unfortunately, that we don’t ask, you know, and I’m saying we, the royal, we, all of us, right? Collectively, as a society, sometimes we don’t ask those questions until someone walks out.
[13:33] And so we’re, you know, we’re trying to build something that if we’re going to go out there and talk about a brand and it’s something that we really believe in, it’s something that we hire into and, you know, and make sure that it’s, it is what we say it is.
[13:48] So yeah, it’s different. Believe me, I get a lot of, like, those cocked head looks when I say it and especially the people who know me in the industry I play golf with.
Jim: [13:59] Yeah, that’s your golf…
[14:00] [crosstalk]
James: [14:00] I definitely have an HR hat. HR doesn’t claim me, for the record.
Jim: [14:05] Wow, you’re like…
James: [14:07] Like, no, he’s just over our department. He’s not in HR. [laughs]
Jim: [14:11] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
James: [14:12] That’s the preface. But, Jimmy, one other thing I wanted to bring up, not, not about us, but really just seeing the industry, you know, a burst of things kind of going on in the industry this past couple of weeks.
Jim: [14:25] Yep.
James: [14:26] I know, I know you were a part of some of them and wished you could have been a part of others. I know, same here. Busy week last week. But we’ve, over the last month, we’ve seen, you know, virtual events from EGW, just, we had…
[14:40] [crosstalk]
Jim: [14:41] I got to attend that, absolutely. And you know Phil Wiegers, the owner, CEO, president.
James: [14:46] He was just on. Yep.
Jim: [14:48] Just on two weeks ago. He’s friends of ours. It was a good event, very good, just ramped up.
James: [14:54] So cool stuff going on out there. I know we, we had Greg McReynolds. He’s on the brand team, brand ambassador. Mr. brandyman, safe, self‑proclaimed Mr. brandyman, Greg McReynolds, attended Tennessee Gas Association’s virtual event this past week.
[15:16] And actually, Greg had some glowing reviews on that and the system that they used. So, you know, that, that’s, that’s cool to start seeing people figuring out what’s working and what’s missing.
[15:29] You know, if you go back to some of our first episodes, Jimmy, that was some of the stuff we talked about. Like what are we gonna learn during this? How are we going to figure out these gaps in the technology?
[15:40] And I think we’re seeing the technology get there, but also our users get there, right? And people going, “You know what? What if we did things like this, or what if we didn’t have this, if it’s virtual?”
[15:50] Like, it’s OK to say no, too, or let’s not have a virtual event. How many did we see get postponed, you know, here this past month, too, to later in the year.
[16:03] So a lot of decisions like that going on. What are you thinking?
Jim: [16:08] You know, I, I think not only the events, James, but also some of the things that we’ve seen like with the “Connections for Life” UPSCO guys do in their podcast series, very successful. You know, Applied Consultants also doing some virtual podcast‑type stuff.
[16:23] Then let’s take it a little bit further, too, like ClockSpring NRI are doing tech talks, where they get on for 20 minutes and, you know, give the industry some, something very specific. You know, you can get in and nerd out for a little bit on composites and get out and learn something or ask questions.
[16:39] And we’re seeing more and more of that. And people’s familiarity, and more so they’re, how comfortable they are now to, you know, get engaged. A year and a half ago, if you told me to be on a Zoom call, I would have been like, “Let’s just talk on the phone, we’re good.” Now…
James: [16:53] You know, one thing I’ve noticed, too, Jimmy, and that I think we figured out also is we, OK, go back before the pandemic happened…
Jim: [17:06] OK.
James: [17:06] when most things were in person. And then your other option was a virtual option, right?
Jim: [17:14] Yeah.
James: [17:14] And the price point on the virtual option was usually bananas, right? Oh, you want to take this virtual class? Well, that’s $1,500, you know, whatever it is, right?
[17:25] And, and you get in there and then it’s clunky and you’re kind of like, “Oh, man, this is really expensive for this virtual.” So then nobody, you know, nobody signed up for a virtual, right?
Jim: [17:36] Yeah.
James: [17:37] Well, we were almost running them away from virtual so that we could, you know, it’s so much easier, people are going to come in person.
[17:44] Now we’ve, if you look across the industry, associations have figured out, like, they’re paying their dues out there. Yeah, we’re not going to make money. We’ve got sponsors. We’ve got underwriters. Let’s just open it up and get people exposed to the association, right?
Jim: [18:00] Yeah.
James: [18:00] Make it a value add instead of trying to make it make money. Because we’re in an off year with, it is what it is. Let’s do the best we can. But let’s make it an experience.
[18:13] And then, I don’t know about you, Jim, but I’ve just, I look around our company in particular, but even our industry I’ve heard it. So many people have been able to attend things that they’ve never would have been able to.
[18:26] Jim
: [18:27] Absolutely.
James: [18:27] They wouldn’t have had travel in the budget. They wouldn’t have the money. They wouldn’t have got approved. It wasn’t their specialty. How many people watched the line‑locating course, you know, our session over this pandemic, that never had a clue what that was.
Jim: [18:43] Yeah.
James: [18:44] Or a Damage Prevention Summit because, well, I mean, it’s there. Why wouldn’t I want to learn about it, and changed industries, or got a new opportunity because of one of these small trainings, what seems small in scale, right, and scope?
Jim: [19:01] Yep. It’s a virtual world, man. It’s a virtual world. We’re good.
James: [19:05] Yeah. My daughter’s home, summers out, school’s out for summer.
[19:10] But yeah, that’s, that’s one of the byproducts that’s so cool, in seeing that. Like I said, seeing the industry kind of come alive and looking ahead in the future and knowing, man, I think those events are going to happen, you know?
Jim: [19:24] Yeah.
James: [19:24] Events like, Jim, think about what’s ahead. What’s left this year that’s big in scale, weighing on it? I can see it. We’ve been waiting years, right? I mean…
Jim: [19:38] Well…
James: [19:39] we know AGA’s coming.
Jim: [19:41] This October to my home state of Florida, Orlando, just up the road from me. That’s gonna be big.
James: [19:47] That’s the big one, right? That’s the biennial?
Jim: [19:50] Yeah. That’s, that’s the every two year again, yep, the biggie.
James: [19:53] I hate saying that word. I have to look at, I can’t say it right. But, biennial, is that right?
Jim: [19:59] Biannual.
James: [20:01] See, been saying it wrong a whole lot. Nobody told me. All right.
Jim: [20:08] Hey, hey, that’s why we’re a team, brother, yin and yang, all my little things, right, [laughs] do that. You fill me in and vice versa.
James: [20:15] And you correct biennium, biannual.
Jim: [20:19] You got it.
James: [20:20] Biannual. Anyway…
Jim: [20:21] There’s another, there was another word a couple weeks ago that you could not say. And I’m like, if you think of it, remind me, because it was funny.
James: [20:29] No, I’m never saying it again.
Jim: [20:30] Come on.
James: [20:31] We also, what’s, what else do we have being on the calendar?
Jim: [20:34] SGA, SGA Connect.
James: [20:36] Yeah. That one’s going to be a big blowout. That’s a good event anyway. I love that event. But it’s like, I feel like I…
[20:43] [crosstalk]
James: [20:45] Oh, yeah, yeah. We are, yeah. No. Actually, Jimmy, that’s a different event.
Jim: [20:50] A different…
James: [20:51] I hope we’re involved in that.
[20:53] [crosstalk]
Jim: [20:53] the event coming up, though, right?
James: [20:54] Right. We do the manage‑, Management Conference that’s coming up in June. June?
Jim: [20:59] Yep.
James: [21:00] June. So many dates. See, this is why we have handlers and calendars and stuff is because we can’t, you can’t keep our life together.
[21:11] SGA coming up, we are going to be on doing our networking and that gameshow thing with UPSCO. If you remember that from last year, tons of fun. It was the first thing we had done last year. Like that, we did several, we’re doing another one with TGA coming up as well.
[21:27] We just recorded a promo for it before this, actually. So, you know, some of that’s coming. You know, kind of funny to see taking shape, where we’re actually getting out there and doing these virtual events, you know, as we look ahead at these big, bigger live events coming up, right?
[21:46] I saw LGA, I mean, as we were on this call, got new dates, did you see that, Jimmy?
Jim: [21:51] Yeah.
James: [21:51] November dated.
Jim: [21:52] I saw them pop up. So I haven’t looked at it yet.
James: [21:55] November dates for LGA, so, you know, it’s going to be a busy end of the year.
Jim: [22:02] It is.
James: [22:02] Those are all big shows. If it’s, is that the LGA event, the week‑long?
Jim: [22:08] Yeah, that’s…
James: [22:09] 192 to 195?
Jim: [22:09] Yeah, 192, 195. And I’ve been there for years, and it just keeps growing and growing. To say that they have 5, 6, 700 attendees over five full days, pulling from one time, I thought, it was 16, 17 states, including regular…
James: [22:29] I know, a lot of people. That one gets traveled well across the industry, for sure.
Jim: [22:35] Yep.
James: [22:35] And that’s a unique event, Jim, and you correct me if I’m wrong, because I have never attended that one…
Jim: [22:41] OK.
James: [22:42] which, OK?
Jim: [22:42] OK.
James: [22:42] but by proxy. And I believe you are the one that told me, so that when we say 192, 195, one group comes in and it’s kind of split in half, right? How does that work?
Jim: [22:53] Yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s been…
James: [22:55] So like one group kind of comes in, then another group comes in midweek, and goes out through?
Jim: [23:00] Yeah.
[23:00] [crosstalk]
James: [23:00] If you’re a vendor…
Jim: [23:03] Oh, you’re there the whole time. And you gotta, you have to reset because 192 comes in Monday, they leave Wednesday morning.
James: [23:09] So bring them back up.
[23:11] [crosstalk]
Jim: [23:11] night, afternoon, 195 comes, and they stay till Friday.
James: [23:14] Yeah.
Jim: [23:15] So you’ve gotta, you gotta, like, put on your face because it’s, it’s show time again. I mean, you’re…
James: [23:19] Have you ever done New Orleans twice in a week?
Jim: [23:22] I have.
James: [23:23] Yeah.
Jim: [23:24] Yeah.
James: [23:24] So if you’re a vendor there, first‑time vendor, bring a backup friend.
[23:29] [laughter]
James: [23:30] And, and ibuprofen in a bowl.
Jim: [23:35] I used to have that at my booth. I used to have Rolaids, ibuprofen, and all that. You know, I don’t know drink.
James: [23:42] That was the swag, yeah.
Jim: [23:42] That was my swag. I’d give it out, you know? I was helping people.
James: [23:46] Yeah, so a lot of events moving to the final quarters.
Jim: [23:50] Gonna be busy.
James: [23:51] Well, really the last, I mean, we’re really talking about three months. September, October, November’s going to be bananas.
Jim: [23:56] Yeah, because December is…
James: [23:59] Yeah. I mean, nobody’s going to work after Thanksgiving, right? Nobody works?
Jim: [24:03] Well, it’s kind of…
James: [24:05] I mean publicly works, right? Yeah.
Jim: [24:07] Yeah, yeah.
James: [24:08] We all work, we know. Bosses, bosses out there, we all work.
Jim: [24:13] It’s just, yeah.
James: [24:16] What else? What else?
Jim: [24:18] I don’t know, brother. What else? I was gonna, I was gonna bring up…
James: [24:22] We got that, I, it’s funny that you, I’ve seen you shuffle different mugs in today. We’re, so we’re recording some different things today. So, you know, we don’t want everybody to just think we wear some clothes on every episode.
[24:35] So when we have these recording days, it’s kind of funny behind the scenes because we’ll just be like, “OK, new coffee mug.” But as we started pulling all the stuff out, like so, so I have the original here.
Jim: [24:49] Yep.
James: [24:49] It’s kinda cool, with the blue hat. This was before the rebrand.
Jim: [24:54] Yep.
James: [24:54] Then we rebranded. So we, we got the new one, with the new logo and stuff. When I say rebranded, our company, Energy Worldnet, rebranded.
Jim: [25:03] Yep.
James: [25:03] [inaudible] October 1. And so then we got new swag with that rebrand, which, man, killer mug right here, Jimmy. If you look at it really close, its kind of star, it looks like stars, which is…
Jim: [25:15] Yeah, but that thing…
[25:16] [crosstalk]
James: [25:16] Worldnet.
Jim: [25:18] I mean, you could put a nail in the wall with that thing.
James: [25:19] No doubt, man. I think I have. I mean, look at this, this guy, look, it’s…
Jim: [25:25] Yeah.
James: [25:25] chunky, like me…
Jim: [25:28] We’re fluffy.
James: [25:32] that guy right there, then we rebranded the show this year.
Jim: [25:37] Yeah.
James: [25:38] And so we got that one. And that one right there, it’s got a matte finish. It’s a very big mug.
Jim: [25:45] Yep.
James: [25:45] And for me, personally, just randomly, it fits perfect in my cupholder as a coffee cup, as it is. Like nothing, I don’t have to, like, put a napkin around it or anything crazy. Just, it fits, wildly enough. And so I love that one.
[26:02] But it’s funny to see all the different mugs. Even for the life of this show, I’ve got a few. It’s always weird to drink out of the one with your face on it.
Jim: [26:14] I, I…
James: [26:15] But I do that when I’m not around people, like…
Jim: [26:17] Yeah, like…
James: [26:18] someone’s over.
[26:19] Jim
: [26:19] Yeah.
James: [26:20] You have some family in town and they…
Jim: [26:22] The grandbabies are like, “What is that?”
James: [26:24] Yeah, they go get coffee in the morning, and they’re like, “Is that you?”
Jim: [26:27] Yeah. Who, what?
James: [26:30] And I’m like, “Yeah. I was going through a phase.”
Jim: [26:31] Ah, you know, it’s a phase. But I will say this.
James: [26:34] Like a passing phase.
Jim: [26:35] James, I think we should put out the invitation that if anybody, I’m not saying shamelessly would, I would want a mug, but if we were to get a mug from anybody, I would probably, I would probably hold it on the, the show.
James: [26:51] Yeah, we’ve talked about that. You know, we’re, we’re not looking for money here, anyone, really. But if you do have a mug and you want us to drink up, out of it, send it to us. Send us a note, you know, one line about who y’all are. You know, give me your elevator, make it better, and, and we’ll drink out of it.
[27:11] And then, you know, at, at our office, we always put those kind of mugs in the commu‑, you know. Like, that’s kind of the cool part is drinking out of, like, oh, man, who’s Cardinal Construction or what? You know, it’s kind of like, you ever been to one of those old cafes, where you go there in the morning and eat breakfast and it’s just random coffee mugs…
Jim: [27:32] Yeah, exactly.
James: [27:33] down‑home service or, you know.
Jim: [27:35] Yeah.
James: [27:36] R&R, R&L efficient rental, you know, and you’re, you’re like, “Man, I like this.”
Jim: [27:42] Yeah.
James: [27:43] I think that’d be cool. So if you got mugs, we’re not trying, don’t bury us in mugs. Just reach out to us and we’ll tell you where to send them.
Jim: [27:51] Have some fun with them, right?
James: [27:52] Yeah, it’d be cool.
Jim: [27:54] Yeah.
James: [27:54] We wanna, again, our goal is connect people. And…
Jim: [27:57] Well, yep.
James: [27:58] that’s another way. And we, we don’t want your money.
Jim: [28:00] No.
James: [28:01] Give it to, give it to a charity of your choice. Just send us a mug each. We’ll drink out of it at the show.
Jim: [28:11] And, I would say, too, that, that if that person, that entity has, you know, something they want to share or whatever, that can also open up the dialogue for us to…
James: [28:21] No doubt.
Jim: [28:22] have them as a guest on the show, right?
James: [28:24] No doubt, which brings up a great point, Jim, which is, you know, we realize, and this being a new app, adaptation, from another one.
Jim: [28:37] Adapt.
James: [28:38] Yeah, of, of what the show, you know, could look like in the future. We’re, behind the scenes, we’re trying to put this thing on rails a little bit. Because the thing we don’t know is what it’s going to look like when Jim’s in, like we said, in Alberta or, or Calgary and I’m in Florida.
Jim: [28:56] Yeah.
James: [28:56] You know? How are we going to put on a show that makes sense and bring value, you know, still the way and pull off our jobs at the same time, right?
Jim: [29:05] Yep.
James: [29:06] And so part of that is, is that we’ve moved to more of a scheduled recording weeks to try to just help our scheduling overall. And we know as we start traveling, it’s going to be hard to gain those little chunks back. And so really we’re trying to build a cushion.
[29:25] But the good part of that is we’re saying, “Hey, if you know someone, if you are someone, or you have a new product that’s going to launch…
Jim: [29:34] Yeah.
James: [29:35] or you have a great story you want to bring about the industry, you have a new podcast,” whatever…
Jim: [29:43] Right? Yeah.
James: [29:44] Yeah, I’m in. We’re here to be your conduit to the world. And it may seem like the smallest thing to you. Man, we’re having some of the coolest conversations about shows.
[29:56] Jimmy, you saw it this morning. We were on an email chain this morning about bringing the topic of human trafficking, you know, on the show. Because our industry, you know, we don’t think about how much access our indus‑, industry is, in energy industry, has that a lot of people don’t.
[30:18] And so if there are signs and things that we can teach people and train people on, they may catch these. And they have. That’s the cool part. And so that’s, that’s pretty amazing to think about our show a year ago and the goofy things we started off doing. And then bringing topics with that much weight and levity to them.
Jim: [30:44] Yeah.
James: [30:44] This industry is amazing.
Jim: [30:46] And, and, and, and the feedback where people are saying bring us more. We want to see more. Wanna, you know, this half hour that I get to spend every week with us, you know, people are telling me that.
James: [30:58] Yeah.
Jim: [30:58] They’re like, it, great, you know?
James: [31:00] You know what I’ve found myself personally enjoying the most here lately, because, I’ll be honest, at the beginning, I didn’t watch it back because I liked it, right?
Jim: [31:11] Yeah.
James: [31:11] Like, there wasn’t a reason for me to. I was there. But then Chad from UPSCO mentioned something when we were in the…
Jim: [31:20] Chad Cuvo.
James: [31:19] Yeah, Cuvo from UPSCO, we were on a mash‑up with them. And he said, somebody said, you know, people, I think it was Joe, maybe, said, “People come up to me all the time and say, “Oh, man. Remember when you said that thing about blah blah blah?”
Jim: [31:38] Yeah.
James: [31:38] And Chad was like, “Yeah, I black out.”
Jim: [31:41] Yeah, yeah.
James: [31:42] And I thought, “Holy cow. I kind of black out.”
Jim: [31:45] Yeah.
James: [31:46] And when I thought back, I couldn’t think of these episode. So I started rewatching them. And I’ll tell you what I’ve enjoyed the most, and I started to lean in a little bit more on it, is the origin stories. Like, we’ve been blessed with some amazing guests.
[32:00] Like, the other day I was talking to somebody, and it was a, we were doing a course or looking at a course, right? And there were markers on there, right, right? I mean, and they were Rhino Markers, I mean, you just know.
Jim: [32:12] Yeah.
James: [32:13] What else could they be?
Jim: [32:15] Yeah.
James: [32:16] And I was like, hey, we have the, we had the, found, like he told the story on our show. And they were like, “What? What do you mean?” And I go, “Those markers right there,” and I had that.
Jim: [32:32] Yeah.
James: [32:32] And so, so hearing those, like, “How did you get there? Like what was it like at the beginning part, like, straight out of Scott’s mouth, right?
Jim: [32:40] And he’s full with that passion, where he just is like…
James: [32:43] He’s just telling a story, like we tell a story about our company or about our, our experiences in the industry. But for something, it’s like hearing Steve Jobs talk about, you know, his ambitions and, and Apple and, and what he wanted it to become and how they got there and the garage stories.
Jim: [33:02] Yeah.
James: [33:02] And we’re listening to someone who was that person for this industry, in that segment, go through that same onboarding. And it’s fascinating to me to hear that.
Jim: [33:14] Yeah.
James: [33:14] Because that’s, that’s access you don’t normally get to people, right? It’s like behind the Actors Guild, when you get to ask them those things, right?
Jim: [33:23] Yep.
James: [33:23] It’s really, really cool.
Jim: [33:24] Yeah.
James: [33:24] So I’ve enjoyed that personally here lately. So if you are someone who wants to be on, you have a story to tell. You’ve got a great organization, a great product, any of those things, you have a great message or know someone that does…
Jim: [33:39] Hit us up.
James: [33:40] Do it, yeah. Man, we’re always pining to get some more episodes in the can, as Jim says…
Jim: [33:47] [laughs]
James: [33:49] back when it was reel‑to‑reel. But we are. So, yeah, if you have any ideas, let us know.
Jim: [33:56] Yeah, absolutely. James, I got to tell you. When we talk to guests before they come on, just to kind of come full circle, we always tell them. They’re like, “What’s it like being on the show?” We’re like, “Don’t even think about us being on a show or recording the thing. Just pretend it’s the three of us at an industry conference, catching up, having a discussion.”
[34:18] And that really puts it down. And I think that’s a feedback, you know, that I get. I’m sure you get the same thing, too, from audience members. They’re like, “Just like the conversation that you have. Even if I don’t watch it, I might have it on in the background. I might be working on some Excel spreadsheets,” might be working on this or whatever.
[34:34] And it’s just kind of interesting. It’s almost like being at a trade show and hearing a really cool discussion going on over there.
James: [34:40] And just kind of sneaking in over of there, and they let you listen. And then they’re, you’re like, “What are you guys talking about?” Yeah.
[34:47] I mean, that’s really what we were trying to recreate. And that’s how we, Jim’s, right, that’s how we on board people. It’s in, it’s part of our, you know, pretty much our dialogue at the beginning is don’t sweat it. You know, it’s, it’s you’ll be surprised how easy it really is.
Jim: [35:03] It, it really is.
James: [35:04] That’s been a, that part’s been a blast.
Jim: [35:06] Yep. James, as, as I wrap up today, I have one final question for, [laughs] no.
James: [35:12] Yeah, we gotta get new questions for this year.
Jim: [35:14] Yeah. We are, we gotta…
James: [35:16] We’re kicking that around. And then, our counterparts, if you watched the “Chai” episode with Ashley & Aimee, they give us some great ideas…
[35:24] [crosstalk]
James: [35:24] for some games. And I think the games, you know, our industry is sometimes, we’re just so, you know, black and white, and, you know, we walk a pretty straight line. We need, we have to, you know, when we’re, when we’re out there doing those important things and we have to be safe, right?
Jim: [35:42] Yeah.
James: [35:43] So sometimes our mind stays in that black and white mode and…
Jim: [35:47] Yeah.
James: [35:47] buttoned up. And doing some of those games, I think it’d be fun to have heard Brian Dresel, you know, as a, you know, back in the days of PHMSA guy, you know, answering some of those word association things, you know, and and having that to look back on and laugh at, you know?
[36:05] So we’re hoping to bring some, some variety to that, too.
Jim: [36:09] And we’re going to do it because, you know, I get, as we wrap this up, we want to thank all of our audience. It’s because the audience…
James: [36:15] Jim, Jim, before you do that, I’m going to make one more point.
Jim: [36:18] Please.
James: [36:18] And this personifies, so anybody who maybe think we just get on here, you know, fluff some stuff, and make some stuff up, I’m gonna go back to “Seven Habits.” And the first seven habits we ever did was sharpen the saw.
Jim: [36:32] Right.
James: [36:33] And we did that episode, and we didn’t know if we were going to do seven habits. You know, we just said, man, that’s a great message. We should bring it to people.
Jim: [36:41] Yeah.
James: [36:41] And then that, that crafted, what then turned into us doing every habit, right? And we’re, we’re one away. But today is, the funny story about today is that today was a capstone in an internal group going through seven habits that we’ve been involved in Jim taught, I taught…
Jim: [36:59] Yes.
James: [37:00] several of us taught. And today is sharpen the saw day, right?
[37:06] So we’ll, we’ll be meeting with that group. But one thing we do with that group, as the capstone, is we tell them to set aside the whole morning, 8 to 12.
Jim: [37:17] Yes.
James: [37:18] And for the first two hours, that’s yours. You need to go sharpen the saw, whatever that looks like to you. If that’s gardening, driving around, listening to music, shooting your gun, fishing, reading a book, taking a bath, whatever it is, right, whatever your thing is.
[37:36] And then the next two hours, we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna ask two questions. First one is what did you choose, and why, right? Two‑parter. And then the second is, you know, what your biggest takeaway was as a whole, through the whole, whole, all the habits.
[37:54] So Jim and I picked to do this today.
Jim: [37:58] To sharpen the…
James: [37:59] Funny enough, to sharpen our saw.
Jim: [38:01] And we agreed. It’s like, yes, this is…
James: [38:04] Because Jim and I have been running 150 miles an hour in two different directions, really, and so getting back together and being able to spend time together ourselves. You know, sometimes people say this is, we do this, and it’s great. You know, it feels like home and like we’re at a conference.
[38:22] Again, this, at the root of all this is me and Jimmy needing that same thing. So being able to hook back up today is sharpening the saw for us.
Jim: [38:32] It is.
James: [38:33] So I thought that personified, you know, we weren’t BSing back in the day when we were talking about sharpening the saw and how it looks different at different times to different people.
Jim: [38:44] Yeah.
James: [38:44] And today, this is what it looked like for us.
Jim: [38:47] And we were so dang excited this morning, too, when were like, this is a great idea, you know?
James: [38:53] Yeah, let’s just freestyle it. Let’s go. So this one was a one from the heart, for sure. So, anyway, we hope to get in a good pattern with these and, and do a little bit more bringing the industry back to everybody.
Jim: [39:05] I, I think we’re onto something. I think it’s, it’s important. We should definitely start bringing a lot more industry tidbits back…
James: [39:12] And would love everybody’s feedback on it.
Jim: [39:14] every five, six weeks and just let people know what’s going on.
James: [39:18] Yeah.
Jim: [39:18] James, I’m gonna wrap it up. Thank you, my friend. Spending the time with you this morning, as always, you, you give so much, you know? And I wanna say…
James: [39:28] Likewise.
[39:28] [crosstalk]
Jim: [39:29] so brother, we feed off each other, and it’s great.
[39:32] To our audience, thank you for tuning in. We hope you gathered something from this. Take one thing that you learned today, pass it forward, make somebody else’s day much better, too. So you have that ability.
[39:43] Please hit the like button, please follow us, please do all those things that you’re supposed to do with podcasts and social media. I don’t know what they are.
James: [39:50] Tell a friend. Tell one person.
Jim: [39:52] There you go, tell a friend and have them, join in, and check out one of our episodes. Until next week on Coffee with Jim & James, it’s our pleasure to say thank you for joining us. And as I always say every week, stay safe. And we will see you next week on Coffee with Jim & James. Take care, everybody. Have a great day.
James: [40:18] All right, bye, everyone.
Jim: [40:19] Bye.
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